


A different dream

by lisifus



Series: The unknown journey continues [2]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Angst, F/M, First Time, Intimacy, Passion, Romance, Sex, Sexual Tension, f/m - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:35:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28391778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lisifus/pseuds/lisifus
Summary: After rejecting a vulnerable Cloud, a confused Aerith attempts to understand why. Her thoughts merge into memories of her first experience of love. How could she ever forget Zack? How could she ever forget her first time?
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough
Series: The unknown journey continues [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079324
Kudos: 14





	A different dream

**Author's Note:**

> This story follows on from the first piece in the series called 'Do dreams come true?' Hopefully, this piece helps to resolve some of the sexual tension from that, but probably not in the way we expected!
> 
> Thank you all for taking the time to read my work! I'm so grateful for all your feedback and have tried to incorporate all your valuable critiques - please, keep them coming as it is really helpful! :-)

4.  
It had all happened so fast. One moment Aerith had been alone with her thoughts, the next Cloud’s weary figure was standing before her. One instant they were exchanging words from across the room, the next they were locked in a passionate embrace. Before he arrived, her body was heavy on the verge of slumber, but now that he’d gone it was alert with a blend of desire and confusion. She hadn’t meant her comments to be so abrupt. She hadn’t wanted to reject him. Something cold and sharp had shocked her from the sweet euphoria of their kiss.

But, her attraction to Cloud was undeniable. From the moment they had first met she was captivated by the marine depths of his eyes. The ominous, entrancing mako glow; the mark of a SOLDIER. She had often spied them on her. In casual moments his pupils darted across her body. How she would beam a smile when their eyes locked. How he would bounce away with embarrassment. Then there had been moments of sincerity. Lingering looks at the end of an exchange. A precious moment to peer down wells and into each others souls.

Since their first encounter on Loveless Street, these intimate exchanges had surged between them growing to a storm of desire. But, when Cloud’s trembling hand knocked on her door that night, he had not come to profess his love.

She had never seen him in such a vulnerable state; anxious, exhausted, inebriated. He had claimed he only wanted to see if she was ok, confessing guilt at having not protected her from Shinra. But, Aerith was wise to this, somehow she had been in this moment before. She could read the grief in the glaze of Cloud’s eyes. That was the burden he needed relief from, and it was her body that he hoped would take it away.

In that moment she had so readily responded to him. She answered him with opened arms, opened lips, an open heart. All movements that came to her as if already rehearsed. But the firm touch of his hand on her had triggered a memory in her body that her mind had worked hard to forget. She could not let herself be swept away by her emotions again.

Aerith retreated to the comfort of her bed. Perhaps the surreal encounter had been a mere dream? Sleep, she thought, might revive her.  
She nestled her head into the pillow, her gaze falling out of the window to the open sky. She had always assumed that the natural night would be as dark as the extinguished artificial sun in sector five. But, here before her was a kaleidoscope of colour. A symphony of green and purple swirling through an endless glittering abyss. Two heavenly bodies intertwined in the ecstasy of love. And in that moment she was struck first by the healing power of sex, and then by the devastating pain of loss.

Aerith closed her eyes and felt herself fall back through time to the church in sector five. Back to that summer afternoon when Zack’s tall figure had returned to her after weeks away. She had been desperately awaiting the moment his shock of black hair and shining blue eyes would erupt through the doors. His smile filling the room. But that day had been different. He was different. His usual boundless energy replaced by a somber figure.

Zack unburdened himself to her easily, confessing of his grief at the death of his mentor, Angeal. When he had first told her he was in SOLDIER, Aerith had been wary. She couldn’t square his puppy-like manner with the violent reputation of the elite military class. How could he be so unaffected by warfare? But she had been wrong, he was affected. This time he returned to her with a searing scar on his face, the burden of blood on his hands, and a gaping wound in his heart. He wept for the loss of not just a man he admired, but the ideal he aspired to be.

Aerith had comforted him in that moment, placing her pacifying arms around his crumpled figure. They talked for a couple hours as she gently combed her fingers through his dark strands of hair. When they got hungry, they gathered themselves off the chapel floor and set off in search of food. Walking through the streets of the slums, their hands tenderly intertwined. They stopped to get food at a stall and continued on to the park where they found a bench to perch and watch the passers-by.

“Hey, look!” Zack nudged her zealously, as he nodded toward an elderly couple retired on the other side of the playground. “That’s you and me in a couple of years.”

“Don’t be silly!” Aerith scoffed “That old man is much better looking than you!”

This made him chuckle. There was that smile she had been longing to see.

“Well, maybe I should go over there and give him your number?”

“Hm… somehow I don’t think his wife would appreciate that!”

“You don’t know, maybe she’s into that sort of thing?”

Aerith tried to disguise her laughter by shaking her head and jabbing her fist in to Zach’s side. But he intercepted her efforts with a taunting snigger, ambushing her with an impromptu kiss.

Before the artificial suns were extinguished for the day, they returned back to the church hand in hand. Aerith guided Zach past the pulpit through to the sanctuary at the back of the building. He followed her past the rubble and debris, up the winding staircases until they were embedded safely in amongst the vaults of the attic. There they tucked themselves away, their playful kisses punctuating the ongoing conversation, jokes, and giggles. Their hands growing increasingly more daring in their touch. A mature game of chicken.

Distracted momentarily, she felt Zach’s sturdy hand fall gently on her arm, transitioning smoothly to her chest. The warmth of his palm infiltrated the cotton of her dress, cupping her breast with reassurance. His thumb caressed her gently as his fingers searched enquiringly for her nipple. She closed her eyes and let out a restrained sigh of pleasure.

“Aerith?” he asked bringing her back to consciousness.

“Yea?" 

“Have you ever done this before?”

She was quiet, her quickness of breath and rouging cheeks betraying her. Zach smiled before retreating from her graciously.

“Sorry” he said massaging his eyes with his newly retrieved hand. “I was getting a bit carried away. You’ve been so good at distracting me today from everything with Angeal, I almost got lost there.”

But Aerith didn’t feel lost.

“You going somewhere?” he remarked as she collected herself to her feet.

She responded with a reassuring shake of her head. The moment had taken her somewhere that felt like home, somewhere she felt confident to know exactly what to do with her body. Now, she just needed to bring Zach there too.

Slowly, Aerith reached an arm up to her shoulder, pulling gently at the delicate strap of her summer dress. She did the same for the other side, letting her guard fall down to the floor. Zach cocked his head to the side intrigued, running his eyes across her naked body. His ocean blues met her forest greens once more, and with a cheeky grin he dared her silently into a staring match. She couldn’t evade his steadfast gaze, not as he stood up, not as he removed away his impenetrable armour, not as he stripped his contoured body of its clothes, not as he moved confidently towards her, not as she felt his breath on her as he leaned in for a kiss.  
But they both knew she would lose eventually. By the time his hard worn fingers found the velvet of her nipples, Aerith had closed her eyes. “I win” he said, kissing her firmly. A kiss she would commit to memory forever.

Zach navigated Aerith’s body back to the floor, where he looked over her once more. His eyes were hungry it seemed. He brought his mouth down to her neck, sucking it passionately as he glided a hand across her curves.

“Aerith, your body is amazing, you know that?” he breathed on to her in between his caresses.

She smiled embarrassed, sinking in to his lips to silence him. He moved to meet her for an insatiable kiss, his hand confidently sliding between her legs. It was warm and damp, an uncontrollable smile surged across his face. He grazed the tips of his fingers tantalisingly against the delicate folds of her labia. With every gentle knead a penetrating shock electrified another one of her toes. Until finally, with an irrepressible gasp, she felt his finger slip smoothly inside.

Her encouraging moans were met with increased vigour. This time Zach brought his mouth down to her breast as he massaged his way in and out. Aerith’s hands drew magnetically to his head as he found her breast with his mouth. She tugged instinctively at his ebony hair in an effort to steady the unfamiliar pleasantness swelling within herself. His body responded too, she could feel the heat of his ever-growing stiffness push against her leg. The anticipation was overwhelming.

Zach’s hand was now bathed in her wetness. He withdrew his fingers out from between her thighs, before placing them sensually into his mouth.

“God Aerith!” he exclaimed “you taste as good as you sound.”

She let out an ecstatic laugh clamping her hands over her blushing face.

“I don’t know why you’re embarrassed?” he added with a broad smile “you’re delicious”.

He fell beside her chuckling, and their eyes met once more.

“You know, if your curious” he began “you can look at it.”

Aerith let out another self-conscious shrill. “Zach!” she cried, throwing a gentle fist into his arm.

“What? I’m serious! Aren’t you curious?”

“Yea, of course I am”

“Well come on then”

He reached for her hand commandingly and guided it down to him. He was hot. He was hard. His head was smooth in her palm. After this initial physical exam, she found the courage to face it directly. It looked heavy in her hand, crimson flesh swollen with desire. She ran her thumb inquisitively up the shaft, rubbing curiously at every ripple of skin, every veiny protrusion. When she wrapped her hand around him it was a snug, familiar grip. Similar to her beloved Guard Stick. Her affinity for magic rods amused her.

Zach exhaled fiercely, returning Aerith’s attention to him.

“How does it feel?” he asked cockily.

“Nice.”

“What? Just nice? Come on Aerith, that hurts my feelings!”

“Ok, really nice.”

His body shook with laughter. He pulled her back to his face before whispering breathlessly into her ear “Well just wait until you see what I can do with it.”

He moved his muscular frame swiftly over her. One hand he buried behind her, gripping firmly at the small of her back. The other he leaned carefully by her face with a gentle stroke.

“You ready?” he asked protectively.

She nodded in affirmation.

She felt herself melt over the hot tip of his dick as he lowered himself onto her.

“Put your hands around me” he instructed. She didn’t hesitate to obey.

She felt the dynamism of his muscles as he thrusted himself into her. Her moan, humid in his ear, was arrested mid cry as she gasped for air. He was deep inside her, his body all over her, his smile everywhere.

But then he would go and never come back.

Aerith pried her eyes open. Searching upwards and out of the window, she saw that the cosmic display had now faded. The gentle glow of dawn was crawling over the roof tops of the town. Had she fallen asleep? She peered up to find Tifa’s unconscious body breathing heavy in the bed opposite. When had she come to bed?

Aerith tried to recall the night before. Cloud was here? But so was Zach? Her thoughts blurred together in her daze.

A couple more hours, she thought to herself as she closed her eyes once more.


End file.
